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An improved side airbag

a side airbag and airbag technology, applied in the direction of pedestrian/occupant safety arrangement, vehicle components, vehicular safety arrangments, etc., can solve the problems of occupant's rib injury, dual-chamber structure disadvantages similar to those of single-chamber structure, and dual-chamber structure failure to distribute a greater portion of impact force to more durable parts of the occupant's body, etc., to achieve the effect of minimizing manufacturing cycle time and cost and simple construction

Inactive Publication Date: 2005-05-19
FORD GLOBAL TECH LLC
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] One advantage of the present invention is that an improved side airbag is provided that is sufficiently stiff for cushioning a vehicle occupant's thorax without causing injury to the occupant's thorax.
[0009] Another advantage of the present invention is that an improved side airbag is provided that is sufficiently stiff for safely contacting a vehicle occupant and moving him away from door intrusion.
[0010] Yet another advantage of the present invention is that an improved airbag is provided having a simple construction for minimizing the manufacturing cycle time and costs associated therewith.
[0011] Other advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon considering the following detailed description and appended claims, and upon reference to the accompanying drawings.

Problems solved by technology

A drawback of this single-chamber structure is that it usually does not distribute a larger portion of the impact force to parts of the occupant's body, which are better suited for withstanding those forces.
As a result, the occupant's ribs can be injured when his pelvis could have been safely used to receive some of the forces that were imparted upon his ribs.
For that reason, the dual-chamber structure can have disadvantages similar to those of the single-chamber structure.
Namely, the dual-chamber structure may fail to distribute a greater portion of the impact force to more durable parts of the occupant's body.
Still another drawback of existing airbags is that they typically lack the structure for cushioning relatively fragile parts of the occupant's body and simultaneously displacing the occupant's body away from door intrusion.

Method used

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Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0020] In the following figures, the same reference numerals are used to identify the same components in the various views.

[0021] The present invention is particularly suited for an improved side airbag having multiple cloth panels for protecting a front seat passenger in a side collision. In this regard, the embodiments described herein employ structural features where the context permits. However, it is understood that a variety of other embodiments without the described features are contemplated as well. For example, the improved side airbag can instead include only one cloth panel and be utilized for protecting various occupants in a variety of different collisions. For this reason, it follows that the invention can be carried out in various other modes and utilized for other suitable applications as desired.

[0022] Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, there are shown front and side cutaway views of a vehicle 10 with a fully-deployed improved side airbag 12, according to one embodimen...

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Abstract

An improved side airbag (10) is provided for enhancing protection of a vehicle occupant's thorax and simultaneously displacing the vehicle occupant (14) away from door intrusion. This improved side airbag (12) is an inflatable bag having a thorax-cushioning portion (16) and a pelvis-pushing portion (18) adjacent to the thorax-cushioning portion (16). The thorax-cushioning portion (16) has a first predetermined stiffness for cushioning a thorax region of the vehicle occupant (14) while the pelvis-pushing portion (18) has a second predetermined stiffness for displacing the vehicle occupant (14) away from the door intrusion. The second predetermined stiffness of the pelvis-pushing portion (18) is greater than the first predetermined stiffness of thorax-cushioning portion (16).

Description

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates generally to supplemental restraint systems of vehicles, and more particularly to an improved side airbag for enhancing rib protection and safely moving the occupant away from door intrusion in a side collision. [0002] Existing side airbags include various constructions for cushioning vehicle occupants during side collisions. A typical airbag construction is a single-chamber structure. As is known, this single-chamber structure typically provides a substantially uniform pressure or stiffness throughout the entire airbag. [0003] A drawback of this single-chamber structure is that it usually does not distribute a larger portion of the impact force to parts of the occupant's body, which are better suited for withstanding those forces. For example, a single-chamber airbag can apply substantially the same force to both the occupant's pelvis and ribs. As a result, the occupant's ribs can be injured when his pelvis could have bee...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B60R21/21B60R21/233
CPCB60R2021/23324B60R21/23138
Inventor JACKSON, CHRISTIANNA R.WENG, TZU-CHENARTHURS, KIRK DAVID
Owner FORD GLOBAL TECH LLC
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